Syslinux - Nov 2002 - Thanks for pxelinux & memdisk

This message is from Luis F. Correia, who unfortunately could not post 
it himself to the list....


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--

Hi!

I would like to thank you, H. Peter Anvin for creating this wonderful set of
tools.

The only thing that bothers me is the lack of proper examples in the docs.
Syslinux and affiliates would certainly improve documentation if you start a
user based 'real-life' implementation examples.

Here goes my contribution:

Problem:
	Boot a DOS floppy containing the installation for WinNT/2000/XP from
PXE.
	The available server is Windows 2000.

Solution:

To start, make sure your floppy does its jub if loaded locally on the
target machine using the floppy drive itself :)

Then (if not done previously) install RIS on your server.
Do NOT configure it, just create this key in the registry and define the
location of your TFTP root directory.

(from the pxelinux online doc)
<start quote>
Eric Cook of Intel also reports that the TFTPD server from Win2000 Server
RIS can be used:
The trick is to install RIS, but DON'T configure it with the GUI. Instead,
do the following:
In the registry, add the folder
\HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\TFTPD\Parameters.
In the Parameters folder, add a key called Directory, with a value of the
TFTP root directory path.
With the Services GUI, configure the TFTPD service for Automatic start and
start it.
If you DO configure the RIS in Win2k, you end up with the MS PXE stuff,
which is ugly to get rid of.
<end quote>

Now you need to go to your DHCP server on the Windows 2000 server and
configure it
for 'tftp boot file serving'

Open up the DHCP GUI and go to the defined scope and on the 'Scope
Options'
add
these options:

066 Boot Server Host Name
(enter here the FQDN or the IP of the tftp server, in this case, the ip of
this server)

067 Boofile Name
(/tftpboot/pxelinux.0)


Then you create the following structure on your TFTP root directory:
md tftpboot
md tftpboot\pxelinux.cfg

Copy pxelinux.0 from the syslinux distribution files to 'tftpboot'
Copy memdisk    from the syslinux distribution files to 'tftpboot'
Copy your floppy image to 'tftpboot', name it image.ima

create a textfile in tftpboot\pxelinux.cfg named default and add to it
the following contents:

<default content start>

default whatever

whatever
	kernel memdisk
	initrd=image.ima

<default content end>

with some luck, if you go to a workstation and press F12 during POST, it
should boot
you installation floppy.


Luis Correia
lfcorreia at users.sourceforge.net

Couple of weeks ago, I had posted a possible problem, saying that
memdisk was unable to boot MSDOS, but PCDOS was working. The problem
was mine.

Basically the IFSHLP.SYS file which was part of the disk image, was
corrupted. Since it was the first device driver to be loaded, you did
not see any other message. I replaced the IFSHLP.SYS with another
version which I got from elsewhere and it worked.

BTW, Are any other users of ISOLinux working on a Linux/Windows/Dualboot
unattended installation.

Another question which may have "no" as the answer.
Is it possible to remember some information between two boots of the CD?
Namely, is it possible to boot into say something like:
   Check if a predetermined file exists on the local hard disk.
   If not the default image is "stddefault".
   If the file exists then:
      1. Let X be the first non-comment line in the file.
      2. Delete all lines upto and including X.
      3. If file has no lines, delete the file.
      4. Boot into image X

If such a thing was possible, then many more things can be automated. For
example, I can boot into the "std default" image, which asks what
OS(es),
I want to install. Depending on the answer, I will create the
"predetermined file", telling the order in which the images should be
booted into. So, for example, if it was a dualboot between Windows and
Linux, then the file would contain

WinInstall # This image installs windows on the hard disk (Text mode)
localhdd   # boot off the hard disk, and let windows finish installing
LinInstall # This image installs linux on the hard disk
localhdd   # boot off the hard disk (this will boot into linux) and complete the
linux installation

Ofcourse, this would mean that isolinux should be able to read a file
system (may be FAT16), or some other simple file system.


In short: Is it possible to have such a feature in some future version?
          May be someimage like memdisk can do this?
          If not is there any other way I can achieve the same effect.

- Murali

################################################################
#  Ry 254, Ryerson Hall,   #    Ph : +1 773 702-1031 (Off)     #
#  1100 E 58th Street      #         +1 773 575-4836 (Cell)    #
#  Chicago, IL - 60637,    #   URL : http://www.g-murali.com   #
#  USA.                    #  email: gmkrishn at cs.uchicago.edu  #
################################################################